California man, Joaquin Ciria exonerated after 32 years of wrongful imprisonment

Joaquin Ciria, a Californian man spent over three decades in jail for a murder he did not commit. He was exonerated of the crime on Monday.

Joaquin Ciria: Wrongfully arrested for a murder

Joaquin Ciria, now 61-year-old was arrested back in 1990 and convicted of murder. His conviction was based on police misconduct and false witness testimony according to San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Boudin dismissed the case against Ciria on Monday following the overturn of his conviction. The case marks the first exoneration prompted by District Attorney’s Innocence Commission, established by Boudin for reviewing potentially wrongful convictions.

“It’s very hard, you know? Seeing your kid, them taking away your son. It’s sad, to see your child growing up by himself. But finally, we’re here. We’re at the end now. He’s gonna be out. Whatever God has for us, we have to accept it,” said Yojana Paiz, Ciria’s mother. She kept in touch with him from the beginning thanks to regular phone calls and visits. He is finally free after spending 32 years in prison.

Commission backtracks to reveal the truth

Following his conviction of first-degree murder, Ciria was to spend a lifetime in prison for the shooting of Felix Bastarrica. “Thirty-two years ago, you were taken away from your wife and your baby, and that is because the system failed you catastrophically,” stated Lara Bazelon. Bazelon is the chair of the commission. “Now at long last, you have a chance to take back your life,” she added. An 18-month-long investigation discovering new evidence and witnesses was successful in finding “a cascade of errors”.

“There was no DNA, no fingerprints, no murder weapon was ever recovered,” revealed Bazelon. She added that Joaquin Ciria always maintained his innocence and had two alibi witnesses. According to them, he was home at the time of the murder. However, the defense did not call them since they only spoke Spanish. “Mr. Ciria has been in prison for more than 30 years for a crime he did not commit. Today we celebrate long-overdue justice, but we cannot stop working to undo other wrongful convictions,” stated Boudin.

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